Round it up

By: salvatore | May 23rd, 2008

Just like every other silly season, this one will supply us with plenty to talk about, and this first week hasn’t disappointed so far.

To begin with, Walter Mazzarri extended his contract with Sampdoria, which means we don’t have to keep hearing about how he’s on his way to Lazio. The worst of these reports came last week when a newspaper claimed they had the starting eleven he was planning for the Biancoceleste (which is funny when you find out that he never even met up with Lotito). Moral of this story? Don’t believe what you read (which you should keep in mind when we get into some transfer rumors below).

Yep, apparently, Delio is in for next season, and Lotito is standing behind him.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. Yes, the season was a mess, but I don’t think Rossi should be blamed for it, at least not entirely. I mean after all, he wasn’t the one who left the team with a 44 year-old keeper, two capable strikers and a razor thin bench to compete in three competitions. Moral of this story? As much as you polish a turd, it’s still a turd.

Which brings us to some of the players being linked to the team in the last couple of days. First up is the biggest name of the bunch: Pablo Aimar. According to various sources, Lazio is among the team’s interested in picking up the talented Argie, whose team, Real Saragozza was recently relegated. Apparently, the cost of the creative trequartista would be in the region of 10 million Euros, which seems like the biggest bargain in the world when you consider that Rolando Bianchi is being value at 12 million.

In the meantime, it’s come out that the balance owed to River Plate for Juan Pablo Carrizo has been paid compeletly by Lotito. The 8 million price tag was supposed to be spread out over three payments, but Lazio apparently paid off the entirety three weeks ago. In theory this means he’s ours, but we’re going to have to wait until Ledesma gets his European passport before it’s official.

Another Argentinian getting some Lazio linkage is Ever Banega, who after arriving in Spain to much fanfare, had a tough time settling in with Valencia. He cost the Spanish team a ton of cash, so I’m not sure how willing or capable Lotito would be splash out for him, but a loan deal could always be possible. Lotito was talking about making a big purchase this summer, so maybe he would do it? Boh, who knows? Anyway, if the choice was between Banega and Aimar, who would you take? Personally, I’d go with youth, but it’s tough to discount Aimar’s experience.

Within Italy, the team’s targets reportedly include Cagliari’s Canini, Empoli’s Pratali, Marchisio and the disappointing Almiron of Juve. Considering some of these guys were supposed to be part of Mazzarri’s 11, I wouldn’t put much stock in their arrivals just yet, but you just never know at this time of year.